Local police will receive help responding to the growing number of mental health calls thanks to a new grant from the province.

The Brockville Police Service, in collaboration with the Smiths Falls and Gananoque police services, were announced this week as the recipients of $210,700 in funding through the province's Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing Grant - an investment that will help them to "better respond to addiction and mental health issues, poverty and at-risk youth."

The police forces will form a group called Joining Forces: A Collaborative Community Policing Initiative in Eastern Ontario, and will take part in training specific to responding to mental-healthrelated calls.

Brockville Police Chief Scott Fraser said Thursday the funding will help the local officers with an issue that's become increasingly prevalent in the last few years, both locally and across the country.

"Our theory, as always, is that people in crisis, and people with mental health issues are not criminals," he said.

"The police are here to make sure everybody is safe, and that's really where our job should end and the medical field should begin."

The police service's latest annual report revealed mental health cases take up more of city police officers'time, on average, than other types of incident.

The 2016 annual report, released this summer, provided a look into what types of calls required the most amount of time for officers; the report took the total cases for the year and calculated the average time from arrival to closing.

Last year, the average call time for the 325 mental health incidents was 81 minutes, 54 seconds.

By contrast, there were 26 impaired driving cases with an average response time of 64:58, while the 214 noise complaints took an average of 15:32 to close.

The funding will go toward officer training that will help decrease the amount of time police spend with a person in a mental health crisis, Fraser said, because the quicker they can determine the appropriate course of action, the more time they can spend with a mental health practitioner. Specifically, to make the process more efficient, they will now be using a new software called "Health I M."

"It's a software that officers can use in the vehicles with their laptop computers, and it allows direct contact with the hospital," Fraser said, adding it will help streamline the process and help to find the right resources faster.

"It's not the be-all and end-all to mental health apprehension, but when you enter the data in real time, as to what is happening right now, it has an algorithm it goes through and provides the officer with a little direction as to how to proceed."

In addition to the new software, the funding will also mean additional funding for a youth worker at the police service's Intersections program, funding for their Connections program and for RnJ Youth Services Smiths Falls.

Fraser said another recent addition to the station is a new partnership with Lanark Leeds and Grenville Addictions and Mental Health (LLGAMH), where a mental health employee now works fulltime with the police services.

"Having that right at our fingertips for our officers is very important," he said, adding a worker is present at the police station three days in Brockville, one day in Gananoque and one in Smiths Falls.

"It provides for a greater area than just Brockville."

According to the province, the grant money comes from assets that have been forfeited to the federal government as proceeds of crime, and then turned over to the province following criminal prosecutions.

"It's just another tool for officers to work on providing the person with the best, and the most efficient treatment they need."